Crushing on You

Chapter Six: Something More than Strangers

Beta: strawberries and napkins

…

So, as if you didn't already know, Sai dumped me anyway. Said I was just stringing him along. Stringing him along for who, he wouldn't admit to, but I guess he just felt inferior around me. I guess I can't really blame him. I am ridiculously attractive. No amount of convincing did him any good, and it's okay, because why would I want a boyfriend who whines all the time about my enemy?

The only thing that is so totally notokay however is that the sun is shining brightly in the sky and yet I still don't have a boyfriend.

Oh, and did I mention that today is the day of the festival?

Today is the day of the festival.

"Shoot meeee," I whined into the phone, sprawled out on my living room couch, ignoring the admonishing looks I was getting from Iruka.

Kiba, on the other line, starting giggling hysterically. He's been doing that for the past two hours. You see, my original success with Gaara had apparently rubbed on the poor idiot, and so he preformed the trick just like yours truly, and successfully snagged Hinata as a date to the festival.

Yeah, and she's not getting sent to Paris. Although I have no doubt in my mind that Neji might end up sending Kiba somewhere far away from here if he ever got a peek into my friend's brain.

I groaned. "Kiba, help me, please. I need a date. I need a boyfriend, NOW." I snuck a peek at Iruka who bit his lip to stifle a chuckle. Everyone I know is a traitor.

"Is all you do whine?" Kiba said impatiently, but still managed to start giggling again after speaking.

"That's like me asking you if all you do is jack off while thinking of that pale-eyed girl, it's naturally occurring, isn't it?" I looked at Iruka again who stiffened and then tucked the newspaper underneath his arm, got up, and left the room muttering things about me. I rolled my eyes.

But anyway, the joke must've hit a nerve because the other line went considerably silent. Poor guy; he should have come to realize that there was no way Hinata was going to do anything with him…ever, probably.

Finally, he spoke again. "Dude, I have your list here."

"You—what?" I've been looking for that list for an entire day now. "Are you stalking my love life?" I asked slowly.

I could feel the sarcasm dripping in his voice. "Of course I am, Naruto. By the way, I crossed out Sai's name for you. Good riddance, if you ask me, next on the list is—"

"Shikamaru." I cut in quickly, urgently. "Tell me how to snag Shikamaru."

He laughed loudly. "I dunno man, that's like asking me for advice for Sasuke. They're both asexual androids. Well, except Sasuke has Sakura and Shikamaru has Ino, but I'm sure they're just cover-ups."

Funny, because I once came to the same conclusion about why Sasuke hung out with Sakura so much. Now I'm convinced that Sasuke is actually an eunuch, but that's beside the point.

"Something though, there's gotta be something. There's no way Shikamaru is going to want to be dragged down to the Festival with Ino. She's a crazier blonde than I am."

From the background I could hear Iruka shout, 'Ain't that the truth!' Sometimes, I forget he's an adult.

"Yeah? Then convince him yourself, he's probably still out down the park until the sunsets—" I slammed the phone back on the receiver, ignoring Iruka immediate chastising. Damn Kiba, why didn't he just say that at the beginning instead of wasting two hours of my time reciting his plan to get Hinata in bed?

I checked the clock, it was 5:20, and the sun sets at six. I had forty minutes to snag my next potential partner or…

My body violently shivered as I hurriedly put on my jacket and sprayed some cologne on my collarbone. I didn't even want to think about what would be coming my way next.

True to Kiba's word, I did find Shikamaru stretched out across an expanse of grass, lightly snoring away the last bit of daylight. And true to my word, I was still desperate, so I knelt down beside him and shook him awake.

"Gah – wha? The hell? Naruto?" Shikamaru peeked open one sleepy eye and furrowed his brow. I tried my best silly smile.

"I thought I'd find you out here." I released him and leaned back on the grass that was itching my butt and probably staining my jeans. He glared at me, shut his eyes for a brief moment, and then reopened them toward the sky.

"Yeah, I come here when I try to get away from crazy blondes." He muttered loud enough for me to hear. I did actually chuckle at that. If Shikamaru's torture was anywhere near as bad as Sasuke's, then I could technically be seen as doing him a favor, you know?

I absently picked at the pieces of grass between my fingers. "I bet. Although, I barely know anything about Ino."

"Then consider yourself lucky." He said, and then flinched softly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. It was a nice phone. Hey, how come I don't have a nice phone like that? Iruka is so damn cheap. I'm so going to complain about that when I get home.

I waited for Shikamaru to finish typing out his text message before I spoke again. "Who was that?"

He glanced at my sideways, as if he had just rediscovered my existence. "Sasuke, for our chemistry thing."

I scowled. "Ugh, how can you be friends with that guy?" He shrugged, snuggling back into the ground, trying to push me out of his peripheral vision. Too bad for him.

"So! The dance is only starting in a couple of hours. Got a date?" I asked optimistically, praying to all the Gods I knew that he wouldn't say, 'yeah, Ino.'

He cracked one eye open. "Naruto, enough with the games. You're troubling my sleep. What do you want?" His voice already sounded tired.

Jeez, that wasn't very friendly. And I did open my mouth to speak, but before I could get my first words out, Shikamaru pulled out his phone again and started texting away. I sighed. Even when Sasuke isn't around he's still pissing me off. Bastard.

When I heard his phone click, I took my opportunity. "I want you to go to the Festival with me. As in a date. As in, you and I, going out together. Meaning—"

"Naruto." He said impatiently, interrupting me. "I get what you mean."

I blushed softly, kicking myself in the head for ranting on and on when I could've stopped. You would think that after doing this four times already I would've gotten the hang of it, but no, this is still me we're talking about.

His gaze traveled upwards, watching the orange-purplish clouds drifting slowly in the clouds. I tried to get into it too, but I started getting sleepy, so I looked somewhere else. I don't get how he does that; it's incredibly boring. But I did discover a good way to put myself to bed faster, I guess.

When Shikamaru finally looked back at me in the eye, I could tell by the twinkling in his eye and the smirking playing on his lips that it wasn't going to be as easy as I was trying to make it. He shrugged again, for the umpteenth time. "I don't think I want to go the dance with another guy, Naruto."

My face fell. In the back of my mind I saw flashes of green leotards and reminded myself I could not afford to lose. "But, but why? I'd make a great date."

He chuckled in a deep voice that made me squirm. "I never said I was gay."

'Yeah, and you've probably never told Ino to her face that you were completely straight either, have you?' I thought to myself. I'm probably right too, but it's not worth arguing with him. So instead, I inched closer to him, until I could feel the body heat radiate off of his arms. His facial expression didn't change, in fact, he might have gotten a bit more interested, but you know how Shikamaru's eyes stay dull-looking. Reminds me of a dog a little bit.

"You wouldn't know. Have you tried it?" I murmured, my eyes scanning his face. He really was handsome in his own way, in the way that only those eyes with those slim lips and that kind of hair against his face seemed to work so well. Or maybe I was over-exaggerating it, but hey, I haven't kissed anyone in days, you know.

His body went slack, so I took total advantage of that, leaning overtop of him, pining him underneath both my arms. It was kind of weird for me, because all things considering Shikamaru is bigger than me physically, but me dominating is really pumping my ego quite well. I could get used to this 'seme' thing.

"Have you?" I repeated, making sure I he was holding my gaze. His slow smile began to spread.

"I'm guessing you're going to be the one to convince me to go on a date with you instead?" He chuckled. I mirrored him this time, shrugging. And went I could feel his phone vibrate against his thigh; I placed my hand over his to stop him from answering that text message. Sasuke could wait, and I was done talking. We started kissing. A lot. And, it's safe to say, Shikamaru was in no ways questioning his sexuality. There was no way that he was going to deny me when I asked him out this time.

But, unfortunately, due to the pact the Masters of the Universe made in order to prevent me from getting a date, my tongue was violently wrenched out of his mouth and I was thrown onto my back like a dog, staring into the face of the one and only, Yamanaka Ino.

It was also the first time that I noticed it was dark outside and that Shikamaru does a weird purring thing when he's happy…or horny.

"Hey! Are you trying to convert my date!" She screeched, kicking me in the stomach while she hauled a dizzy Shikamaru to his feet, shaking him until he could stand on both feet.

"What?" I chocked out, surprised. "How did you know I was here? Who sent you?" I hald-shouted this, and she just rolled her eyes at me like, duh, of course I knew who told her. But I'm being incredibly honest here when I say that I do not know why I keep getting caught. This is ridiculous!

She threw me a look of pity and then kicked me in the stomach again. I started choking on something I hope wasn't blood. She pointed an angry finger in my face. "Listen. Shikamaru is my date. You have yours, so go call him and stick your tongue down his throat!" She huffed, dragging Shikamaru by the collar far, far away from me, and any chances of me having a normal date to the Festival. He looks so bored right now.

Call? Call who? Is she trying to be funny right now?

Along with green spandex I could also now hear the sounds of toilets flushing. Strange the kind of imagination I have, isn't it?

Oh god, help me.

I went home and hung up my jacket somberly, taking my seat beside the phone. I thought about calling Kiba first, but it wouldn't have made a difference and I figured he would've probably been in the bathroom shaving his legs or something else extremely gay and was too busy to listen to me cry.

I sighed. It had to be done. I could go throw up about it later. I dialed in the seven digits I never thought I would've had to dial of my own free will, ever. And yet, here I am. Life is so unfunny sometimes.

It rings twice, and then he picks up. "Hello?"

I gulp loudly. "Hey…Lee."

"Naruto? Hi! I haven't spoken to you in awhile!"

I winced. Someone kill me. "Yeah, Lee, I know. So, listen…"

"Yeah?"

I glanced around the room, glaring at the little piece of brown hair that seems to be sticking out of the dining room chairs until it sank from view slowly. Stupid Iruka. I think he's laughing at me.

"I need…I need you to get dressed for the Festival and meet me at Ichiraku's in two hours."

"Sure no problem Naru—wait, what? Why?"

"Because…because you're going to be my date for tonight so just do it! Bye!" I snapped quickly and hung up the call, heaving as if I had just did a 5k run. My face was on fire, and listen to Iruka giggle slyly wasn't helping either. I guess Kiba could cross off one more then. And although in reality I should be releaved that I hadn't reached the bottom bottom of the list, I couldn't help but think to myself,

Why…why me?

Hah. Don't be mad that this update took longer. I've actually never written anything involving Shikamaru directly before, so this was a challenege. Plus, I wasn't as witty this week as I would've liked to be, although I hoped I made you laugh…somewhere. AND, I was actually done with this chapter awhile ago, but after reviewing the, well..reviews, I decided to radically change everything I had already set in stone. And for that, I thank those that review.

We're nearing the last chapter, although I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to drag this out. I really really really want you all to enjoy it, I thank you all the people who have story-alerted this fiction and are reading it, and I really thank all of you who read and then review. You guys are the reason I can update so quickly, and the reason you might get an epilogue. (winkwink) So! If you liked it, please review. If you caught one of my dumb mistakes, review and let me know so I can fix it. If you didn't like this chapter at all because it had no Sasuke, then let me know what you wanna see instead, okay? Because apparently I care…a lot.

Thanks again!